NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Ford is recalling 527,000 Escape sport-utility vehicles because of a problem in the antilock braking system that could cause fires, the company said Tuesday.
Missing or incorrectly installed wiring harness seals on the Escape's antilock brake connector could allow water and other contaminates such as brake fluid or road salt to enter the ABS connector causing corrosion.
The corrosion, in turn, could "lead to an illuminated ABS warning indicator, an open fuse, and in some rare instances smoking, melting or burning of the electrical ABS connector," the company said in a statement.
The recall affects 444,880 Escapes from the 2001-2004 model years in the U.S., as well as 82,000 Escapes in Canada, Mexico and Europe, Ford said.
The hybrid version of the Escape is not included in the recall, although the Mazda Tribute, which is essentially a twin of the Ford Escape, is being included, according to spokesperson Kristen Kinley.
Ford said there had been about no reported accidents or injuries. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been investigating the issue.
Ford, which competes with DaimlerChrysler and GM, owns a controlling stake in Mazda.
Under the recall, Ford dealers will inspect the antilock braking system for corrosion and replace it if necessary

http://www.cnn.com/2007/AUTOS/04/11/...all/index.html

Wow, that's large number of vehicles to recall. Whgat I don't understand is how there haven't been any reported cases of this happening. Wouldn't that have started the recall process?

 

I guess they are trying to Escape potential trouble....

 

Great, just what Ford needs.

 

Well, again - it is prior to 2005 when the revamp was initiated.

And, despite the overall negative affect, I personally still view the ACTION they are taking as a positive. It looks good to show that you are standing behind your product - even if it hasn't become a major problem or resulted in a fatality (yet). Always better to be pro-active than reactive in these cases.

Oh well.

 

No doubt. A recall (when one is necessary) is certainly better than ignoring the problem or pretending it doesn't exist (unless of course it really doesn't exist, which does not seem to be the case here).

It's just that I'd rather see Ford in the headlines for some long needed sales increases rather than for a recall.

 

At least they're taking initiative.

Right? Am I right?

Because I remember seeing posts about how proactive Toyota/Honda is, by taking initiative and not waiting for disasters to happen.

Gosh.....

 

Yeah but everytime Toyota issues a recall, God saves a kitten, right?

 

good pun

 

Are all of Ford's cars required to have potential to catch on fire?

 

I have a major issue with Toyota in particular for one reason.

I posted in this forum - about a year ago - where Toyota's "drive-by-wire" system was failing in the field. This new system was in hundreds of thousands of cars on several continents. There were numerous problems related to it and tons of complaints to dealers and Toyota from customers. Toyota tries to put it off on their dealers as an "adjustment" problem and the dealers insist they are doing everything as told to. Then Toyota tries to dump it off on "driver error". Simply put, they won't fess-up and fix what is obviously a feedback error in the design.

In one complaint that was filed, a woman cranked her car up and was letting it warm-up before driving her daughter to school. When she put the car in gear, the engine went WOT and the car slammed UNDER the house trailer they lived in, shearing the windshield and roof line of the car and decapitating her daughter. That was the first FATALITY associated with this fault. As I recall, there were at least 7 related to the problem so far, and numerous injuries and property damage, but Toyota still has not accepted responsibility or acted on the issue.

I had several links in my other post about this, and you can find it easily on NHTSA's website if you search it up.

Point is - Ford, GM, and even Chrysler seem to be FAR more willing to fess-up and make things as good as they can be - even when there is no fatality, no property damage, or even no injury related to the problem. The foreign brands just don't seem to put the same emphasis on "doing what's right". Maybe it's because of their culture - life is expendable and cheap in Asia compared to the USA and Europe... I dunno.

What peeves me even more is how the idiotic consumers that buy Toyondas will actually LIVE with shortcomings and still look you in the face and insist that their cars are better than domestics. It blows me away. They will accept vibrations or rattles in a Honda and claim "the car has 100k miles on it, it's allowed to have a little rattle", then turn around and lambaste a Chevy Impala that has a rattle at 100k miles because it's "poorly designed" or "poorly built".

Bah. I don't want to get started on this stuff in this thread.

I stand behind my first post - I applaud Ford for taking the black eye and doing what's right. I just wish they could market the sentiment behind the action instead of marketing "yet another recall", you know?

 

There is another article out there in which Ford claims there have been 50 reports of fires, so this has happened. It's just that (thankfully) no one has been injured yet.

http://www.nyse.com/interface/jsp/NHDetail.jsp?RequestID=2&pageID=NewsHeadlines&sid= ON%2004/10%20647&isdowjones=true

Proud, you sir are preaching to the choir. Just look at how long they blamed their customers for the infamous engine sludge problems. As if I'm supposed to logically believe that only owners of only certain 4 and 6 cylinder Toyota engines don't change their oil.

I'm starting to call them "Teflon Toyota". Nothing seems to stick to them.

 

Just based on what I have now read so far, the solution will be to inspect the connector for corrosion and replace it if some is found. If none is found, the connector will get a new rubber seal and a healthy shot of dielectric grease and be slapped right back together.

DAYUM.

 

It sure seems that way. They'd probably save money overall by installing automatic fire extinguishing systems in all their vehicles.

 

Man, that is just horrid. The thought of loosing a daughter like that is just terrible.

Has there been any resolution to the drive-by-wire problem?

Dan

 

ProudPony, you're preaching to the chior!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13916606/

That story was from last year, but as Toyota ramps up to surpass GM, more is to be expected. I give Toyota about 3 to 5 more years of success before people start to catch on and sales will slide. What goes up, must come down.

As far as Ford, GOOD FOR THEM! They need to take any and all initiatives they can.